Pros and Cons of Visiting Aruba

After a well deserved vacation to Aruba, I am now back to the States. Not super excited, but I am excited to share my Aruba vacation with my blog readers, and list some of the PROs and CONs of visiting Aruba.

PROs

If you are going to Aruba, you must fly JETBLUE, great flight, great staff, non-stop, free in-flight movie, free drinks & snacks it’s the best way to go.

Stay at a high rise hotel such as: Holiday Inn, Occidental, Riu Palace, one of the Marriotts, Westin, Hyatt, etc… They are all worth the money and their pool, and beach location is pretty amazing.

Pick a place near or on Palm Beach. To me Palm Beach was the nicest, cleanest, relaxing beach on the island. Perfect for swimming with less waves.

Arashi Beach was also nice not too far from Palm Beach, but has a little more waves.

Eagle Beach wasn’t one of my favorites, this beach is located by the low rise hotels. Most low rise hotels are not located right on the beach, and you have to cross the street to get to the beach. To me that’s too much work, I guess I got spoiled with the beach right by my hotel.

If you are using a timeshare and your hotel is not all-inclusive, it’s ok, just go food shopping when you get there. Buy enough food to last you the amount of days you are staying there. I stayed for a week, so we bought plenty of food and still went out to eat on some nights. Your money goes a long way this way.

Take advantage of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse $89 dollar Special for two. You get a lot for your money.

Be smart – ask questions at your hotel concierge, they are very helpful and friendly, no question is a stupid question.

Take the bus to the mall and/or the supermarket and if you have a lot of bags take a cab back to the hotel.

You can pay in Dollars or Aruban Florins.

If flying out there, take CASH with you. There are ATMs pretty much everywhere but your bank might charge you extra fees.

Do the tours – plan at least 2 tours if you are staying there for a week. They are worth the money. Some tours that we did were:

ATV Extravaganza

AWESOME! If you going to rent a jeep to tour the island, DON’T. ATVs is the best way to tour the island. SOOO much fun, the terrain is PERFECT for ATVs, and you get to see a whole lot for your money.

Helicopter Tour

Viewing the island from a different point of view. Very nice!! You get amazing shots this way. You get to see places you didn’t get to cover with the ATVs. You feel safe, secure, very exciting.

One tour/activity that we probably regretted not doing was the Kukoo Kunuku. After hearing so much positive feedback on this one, we were a little disappointed we didn’t look into it before. But definitively recommending it to my readers and I’m hoping to do it on my next trip to Aruba.

Other noticeable info/facts about Aruba:

The Sunset! You have never seen a sunset until you’ve seen one in Aruba! BEAUTIFUL!

Their license plates says: ONE HAPPY ISLAND. (indeed it is)

If you ask anyone that has been to Aruba before if they like it or not or what’s so special about it, I’m pretty sure one of the things they will say is THE PEOPLE and how FRIENDLY they are.

Being from Dominican Republic myself and I do love my country. I have NEVER seen such FRIENDLY, STRESS/DRAMA free country, and HAPPIER place than Aruba. There weren’t any angry bus drivers, or people in the streets causing ruckus or being disrespectful to women for wearing skimpy outfits. I felt completely SAFE!

The weather is PERFECT. VERY HOT, but WINDY, to keep you nice and tan but yet nice and cool.

Minor CONs:

I could really write about Aruba pros all day, but here are my only two (2) CONs:

Iguanas

Lizards

They are nice to look at, but they are EVERYWHERE. Kinda scary after a while, but they don’t seem to bother people if you don’t bother them.